As Chargers pass rusher Khalil Mack prepares to face the Raiders on Sunday, he’s not thinking about revenge.
Mack was drafted by the Raiders in 2014 and traded to the Bears amid a contract dispute in 2018. Now he’s been traded to the Chargers and will face the Raiders in Week One, but he says anyone he had a problem with during his contract dispute is long gone.
“I mean the people that I didn’t like probably aren’t there anymore,” Mack said, via Joe Reedy of the Associated Press. “I’ll always have respect for the organization.”
One person Mack did like is quarterback Derek Carr, who was drafted the same year as Mack.
“That’s my brother,” Mack said of Carr, via SI.com. “I like to talk trash here and there. I feel like that’s a bond that can’t be broken when it comes to that, but come Sunday it’s on and poppin’. . . . He’s an ultimate competitor. One of the best in the game. Somebody that I highly respect when it comes to the leadership aspect, as well as the quarterback position.”
Mack will try his best to sack Carr on Sunday, but they’ll share a hug after the game, and their motivation to beat each other is about competition, not revenge.